Text is taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless otherwise stated.
Saint Robert Bellarmine.
Bishop, Confessor, Doctor of The Church.
Feast Day 13 May.
Double.
White Vestments.
Saint Robert Bellarmine.
Jesuit, and Doctor of The Church (4 October 1542 - 17 September 1621).
Beatified 13 May 1923. Canonised 29 June 1930 by Pope Pius XI.
Date: 16th-Century.
Source: istitutoaveta.it
Author: Anonymous.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Born at Montepulciano, Italy, died in Rome. Proclaimed Doctor of The Church on 15 August 1931.
Successively, Professor of Theology and Preacher at Louvain (1569 - 1576), Director of the Course of Controversy in Rome, where Saint Aloysius Gonzaga was his Penitent, Provincial of The Jesuits at Naples, sent by Pope Sixtus V on a Diplomatic Mission to France, Bellarmine was raised to the Cardinalate in spite of his unwillingness in 1599.
Pope Clement VIII alleged as motive for this promotion that his (Editor: Bellarmine's) equal in learning was not at that time to be found in The Church.
Burbank, California, United States of America.
Photo: April 2008.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Apart from the three years he spent in Capua as its Archbishop, he passed his life in Rome, where he rendered signal services to Pope Clement VIII, Pope Paul V, and Pope Gregory XV.
By his controversial books, he dealt formidable blows to Protestantism, while, by his Catechism, translated into forty languages, he spread the knowledge of Christian Doctrine in all Countries of the World.
As a Religious, he shone by his Angelic purity, humility, and obedience, and, as Bishop, he was a model of watchful care and Charity to the Poor.
Towards the end of his life, he obtained leave of the Pope to retire to the Noviciate of Saint Andrew, the cradle of his Religious Life, where he prepared for a happy and holy death.
Mass: In médio, from The Common of Doctors.